PRO FOOTBALL; Wilson's Comments on Officiating Rile Tagliabue

Both the Buffalo Bills' owner, Ralph Wilson, and Commissioner Paul Tagliabue are angry -- though for different reasons -- over a subject that has had telephone lines burning this week across the National Football League. Never before has the officiating made so many people so angry.

On Tuesday, Tagliabue faxed a letter to Wilson, stating that he intended to fine him $50,000 for his critical comments after two controversial calls in Buffalo's loss at New England last Sunday.

Tagliabue sent an identical letter to the Detroit Lions' owner, William Clay Ford, announcing his intention to fine him $50,000 as well. Ford criticized the officials following his team's victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thanksgiving, a game in which an official fouled up the overtime coin toss.

Yesterday, Wilson publicly blasted Tagliabue for ''pompous lectures.'' Tagliabue, in turn, was said to be furious.

''The commissioner lecturing to me as if I were a novice, instead of one who has been involved in football infinitely longer than he has, contends that criticizing a call has 'destructive and corrosive effects on the game,' '' the 80-year-old Wilson said in a statement.

''What is more destructive and corrosive -- errant calls in front of millions of viewers, or my statements of opinion?'' Wilson continued. ''People all over the country registered shock at the way the officials, however honorable their purpose, took the game away from us. Even the league has admitted to us that the calls near the conclusion of the game were incorrect.''

Wilson added: ''I do know I don't need pompous lectures from the commissioner and I feel that the $50,000 is not only unwarranted, but punitive in nature. The next time he may ask me to sit in the corner.''

Wilson could face another fine because of his latest statement, said one league official who spoke on condition on anonymity. That official said Tagliabue was furious over Wilson's words, though a league spokesman said Tagliabue was ''very concerned.''

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Tagliabue, the official said, will probably issue the fine by the end of the week. Then Tagliabue will evaluate whether another fine is warranted. It is possible that Tagliabue could issue both fines simultaneously.

Wilson said he had not decided if he would pay the fine or appeal it, though a league official said he thought Wilson would calm down, pay the fine and work out the situation with Tagliabue.

The Bills lost, 25-21, to the Patriots, thanks mainly to two controversial officiating calls. The first call came on a fourth-and-9 play, when New England wide receiver Shawn Jefferson was awarded a 10-yard catch though replays showed he was out of bounds. The second call, which set up the winning touchdown, was pass interference in the end zone as several offensive and defensive players jumped for a desperation pass.

Wilson, however, has opposed having the N.F.L. return to the use of instant replay to review calls.

Ford, the Lions' owner, was highly critical of several calls during his team's overtime victory over the Steelers. During that game, the Lions benefited when an official's misinterpreted the Steelers' call of the coin toss in overtime, but Ford called the game one of the worst officiated he had ever seen.

The Lions had no comment on Tagliabue's letter to Ford.

The controversial calls in the Bills-Patriots game, combined with the coin-toss foulup in the game between the Steelers and the Lions, led to a week of N.F.L. officials' being criticized perhaps more than ever.

The league changed the coin-toss procedure; now a player must tell the officials the team's choice before the coin is tossed into the air.

The Steelers' Jerome Bettis called tails at the outset of overtime in the Lions' game, but the official claimed that Bettis had said heads, and as a result Pittsburgh had to kick off. Detroit scored on its first possession to win.